DEAR BENNY: I want to help my older parents so they can have a more stress-free and comfortable retirement, and believe I am in a position to do so. They have a home in an area where housing prices are actually still increasing, which makes the scenario even more attractive to my husband and me.

Their home is valued at about $250,000. They have an interest-only mortgage with a balance of $115,000. I would like to give them a personally financed reverse mortgage of $115,000 to pay off this first mortgage.